LysanderNemoinis:While I know this is probably going to be controversial as hell and will also probably get me in trouble with the moderators, it just has to be mentioned. Perhaps I'm the only one, but has anyone else noticed that when a democrat says something stupid, does something illegal, or pushes some sort of anti-games agenda, their party affiliation is never mentioned? When a republican does the same, The Escapist always makes sure to slap that 'R' next to their name. But the guy who's so far to the left, he makes Engles look like a conservative? Nope! He's just some 'random anti-games politician.' Just thought I'd add in my two cents.

Where in the article did it say that he was a republican? Did I miss something?

It doesn't. Yee is an extremely left-wing democrat, but the article never once mentions what party he belongs to. But when a republican does something illegal or anti-game or just plain stupid, The Escapist always makes sure to mention said politician is a republican. I'll leave the conclusion to this little thought experiment to you and all other readers of The Escapist.

And would this be news if he wasn't also the "anti-video game" guy, though the two are likely unrelated? Probably not. The fact that he's a Senator is the only real reason needed to believe him corrupt. This isn't some huge moral victory for gamers or whatever.

CriticalMiss:He'll never get locked up, he has the best lawyer in all the lands to defend him. Jack Thompson!

WhiteTigerShiro:Well if you read more than the first two paragraphs, or at least skimmed them, you'd have seen that the article says that details of the arrest (ie: what he did) haven't been released yet.

Which is why I asked whether anybody can.

About as many people can tell you about what he did as can tell you about Fallout 4. Nobody. Because the information hasn't been released yet.

Its always nice to see a corrup politician get caught. Its a bonus to see one that kept making stupid statement after stupid statement wasting everonyes money in the process. Sometimes i think there should be some test needed to be passed to determine a person is intelligent enough to even run for politics.

LysanderNemoinis:It doesn't. Yee is an extremely left-wing democrat, but the article never once mentions what party he belongs to. But when a republican does something illegal or anti-game or just plain stupid, The Escapist always makes sure to mention said politician is a republican. I'll leave the conclusion to this little thought experiment to you and all other readers of The Escapist.

a similar question was posed before. i cant find the link now to that thread but one of the members went through the last 20 politicians mentioned on escapist and concluded that both sides were fairly equally in numbers of named and unnamed. It may depend more on the person writing the article than anything i think.

Zachary Amaranth:And would this be news if he wasn't also the "anti-video game" guy, though the two are likely unrelated? Probably not. The fact that he's a Senator is the only real reason needed to believe him corrupt. This isn't some huge moral victory for gamers or whatever.

CriticalMiss:He'll never get locked up, he has the best lawyer in all the lands to defend him. Jack Thompson!

More like, he won't get locked up--he's a senator!

Actually, now it is a moral victory or gamers.

He hated violent video games, and now it seems the charges are for gun trafficking involving a gang in Chinatown.

LysanderNemoinis:While I know this is probably going to be controversial as hell and will also probably get me in trouble with the moderators, it just has to be mentioned. Perhaps I'm the only one, but has anyone else noticed that when a democrat says something stupid, does something illegal, or pushes some sort of anti-games agenda, their party affiliation is never mentioned? When a republican does the same, The Escapist always makes sure to slap that 'R' next to their name. But the guy who's so far to the left, he makes Engles look like a conservative? Nope! He's just some 'random anti-games politician.' Just thought I'd add in my two cents.

In defense of the Escapist, they don't generate most of these articles themselves - they just pass along reports from establishment media sources, who play this "Name That Party" game a lot.

I can remember first noticing it during the Chandra Levy disappearance all those years ago. Gary Condit was a Democrat, and yet the Washington Post continually referred to him simply as "conservative California Congressman Gary Condit."

UNHchabo:Leland Yee also tried to ban all magazine-fed rifles under the Assault Weapons Ban, by claiming that the literal text of the law was a "loophole", after getting sick of everyone pointing out that the current ban only affects cosmetic and ergonomic features.

Edit: "Yee discussed helping the agent get weapons worth $500,000 to $2.5 million, including shoulder-fired missiles, and explaining the entire process of acquiring them from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines to bringing them to the U.S., according to the court document"Holy shit.

WhiteTigerShiro:Well if you read more than the first two paragraphs, or at least skimmed them, you'd have seen that the article says that details of the arrest (ie: what he did) haven't been released yet.

Which is why I asked whether anybody can.

About as many people can tell you about what he did as can tell you about Fallout 4. Nobody. Because the information hasn't been released yet.

My favorite part of this whole story is the part where CNN / MSNBC / ABC News still aren't carrying this story, 2 days later. MSNBC, upon searching "Leland Yee" briefly mentions it a few paragraphs into a story about political corruption, CNN returns absolutely no search results regarding the arrest or release on bond, and many other of the expected "news sources" aren't showing this story on homepage, US News, or Politics sections.

tangoprime:My favorite part of this whole story is the part where CNN / MSNBC / ABC News still aren't carrying this story, 2 days later. MSNBC, upon searching "Leland Yee" briefly mentions it a few paragraphs into a story about political corruption, CNN returns absolutely no search results regarding the arrest or release on bond, and many other of the expected "news sources" aren't showing this story on homepage, US News, or Politics sections.

He hated violent video games, and now it seems the charges are for gun trafficking involving a gang in Chinatown.

Obviously, it was a sting to catch GTA players.

But, you see, the "he hated violent video games" thing is exactly my point. He pushed a law that would ban sales of violent video games to minors, and that's about it. He criticised the way games were sold to minors. And suddenly, in an histrionic uproar the intenet and gaming communities take it and spin it into something bigger and more inane.

Someone who truly hated violent video games would likely have done more than just vote to keep them from being sold to children.

Do I think the law was useless? Yes. Do I think it was dumb, possibly politically self-serving? Yes. Is there a tie to this story?

God no. Hopefully the Escapist has the basic level of journalistic integrity to NOT update the story as you would see them. There is no relevance. I mean, there's a great irony (or hypocrisy) in him being an anti-gun senator busted for gun deals, but that has no relevance here, either.

And yet people seriously still not believe there is a left wing bias in the US news media.

Possibly because that's a non-sequitur.

Unless, of course, you can explain why this corruption accusation not making news is different from most corruption accusations not making news.

The difference is this is a whole lot bigger than your standard corruption case. Sure it's quite common for politicians to take bribes, but arms trafficking is a whole new level of corruption (well maybe not "new" but it has been a very long time since a politician has been arrested for something this big). This is far bigger and more important than whether or not Chris Christie knew about a bridge shut down.

Not only is it a big deal but the you couldn't as for better headline material "Senator Leland Yee busted for working with Chinese's gang leader "Shrimp Boy" Chow to ship weapons to MILF terrorists"